Everyone else on his side of the bracket in the Bellator heavyweight world grand prix, though? Mitrione has some choice words for them.

Lawal (21-6 MMA, 10-4 BMMA) could advance to the Bellator tournament semifinals to fight Mitrione (13-5 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) if he can get past Bader (24-5 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) at Bellator 199. “King Mo” recently took exception to Mitrione saying that he’s too small to get through the heavyweight tournament and said he’s going to give him an “ass-whooping” for the comment.

Mitrione, 39, didn’t like Lawal’s tone when those comments were relayed back to him. He’s confident “Bader works ‘Mo'” this weekend, but if the result somehow goes the other way, Mitrione appears to have plenty of fire toward that potential matchup.

“‘Mo’ needs to worry about Bader,” Mitrione told MMAjunkie. “‘Mo’ is going to get the (expletive) kicked out of him by Bader. If he wants to (expletive) with me, tell ‘Mo’ to worry about his own ass. Tell ‘Mo’ to delete that stupid (expletive) grill out of his mouth so you can understand what he (expletive) says. If he wants to come by, I’ll shut that mother(expletive) up with an ass-whooping as soon as I see his (expletive) ass. (Expletive) him, (expletive) Roy Nelson and (expletive) that whole crew. Bader is going to whip his ass, so it’s not even a thought anyway. (Expletive) ‘Mo.'”

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Bellator 199 takes place at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. Although the headliner determines his next opponent, Mitrione said he will be vacationing in Mexico during the Paramount-televised card that follows prelims streamed on MMAjunkie.

Mitrione clearly holds some ill will toward Lawal, and part of that stems from his friendship with Nelson (23-15 MMA, 1-1 BMMA), who lost his quarterfinal bout against Mitrione at Bellator 194 in February. It was a competitive fight that saw Mitrione win by majority decision, and afterward he criticized “Big Country” for using some underhanded tactics to get himself back in the fight after falling behind early on.

“Matt’s a guy that’s always the pot calling the kettle black,” Nelson said. “I think he’s still upset because he’s cheating on his wife and stuff. That’s all I heard that whole week, was him cheating on his wife. So I think he has a lot of guilt, and he’s got to take his rage out somewhere. But there’s no cheating on my end. I think he’s just upset because in his heart he didn’t really feel like he won. He wasn’t the best fighter that night.”

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Mitrione had remained silent since Nelson’s comments. He finally issues a comment though, and instead of taking it personal, he said the quote is a reflection on Nelson’s lack of intelligence.

“It didn’t bother me, it just shows how (expletive) stupid he is,” Mitrione said. “The comment itself didn’t even make sense. You can tell he was salty because this mother(expletive) got called out for cheating. He made some stupid (expletive) comment about something I did four years ago that I’ve openly addressed. When I talk about my situation other people learn from my experiences. I don’t hide (expletive). People approach me all the time and say, ‘Hey man, when you talked about this one thing or experience, I gained a lot out of that perspective.’ You can’t use something that I openly admit, to try to embarrass me. It didn’t work because it didn’t make any (expletive) sense.

“If you’re going to try to insult me, come up with something better. It just shows you’re not very intelligent and lack all forms of creativity. Sorry you lost, everyone knows you lost except your dumbass followers. So go (expletive) yourself and cut your hair you hobo.”

Nelson currently is booked in a tournament alternate bout with Mirko Cro Cop at Bellator 200 later this month. That means he could potentially find himself back in the tournament, but Mitrione said he’s not worried about that for now. He must focus on what’s ahead of him, and currently, that’s a fight against either Bader or Lawal.

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Mitrione said he’s been operating under the assumption Bader will come out of the Bellator 199 main event with the win. That would set up a semifinal match later this year, and though it’s hard to target when that would be until after Bader vs. Lawal takes place, Mitrione said he’ll be ready to go as soon as Bellator makes the call.

“I’m training right now and staying in shape,” Mitrione said. “I’m down. I’m always down to work. I’m begging to work. I only get paid when I work, so let’s go. I love putting money in the bank.”